Thoughts from someone who remembers when we respected our president and enjoyed the esteem of the world; when our airwaves weren't polluted by rancid, hate-filled diatribes of reckless talking heads; when our Senators and Representatives legislated first for the good of the nation and not special interest agendas; when religion was spiritual, not political; and, the rights of women were respected, not constantly under attack by political panderers. We can do better.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Rumsfeld Takes Flak

The Washington Post reports that another retired military commander has called for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to step down. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said he believes that the administration's handling of the Iraq war has violated fundamental military principles. Marine Lt. Gen Gregory Newbold, the director of operations on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002 in an essay in TIME this week called for "replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach [to the Iraq war]."Last month, retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton wrote in the New York Times that Rumsfeld was "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically......Rumsfeld must step down." Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, who was chief of the U.S. Central Command for Iraq and the Middle East in the late 1990s, in his new book, "The Battle for Peace," says that we have wasted three years in Iraq and "absolutely" thinks Rumsfeld should step down.Retired Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs says his sense is "everyone pretty much thinks Rumsfeld and the bunch around him should be cleared out."So......do you think Rumsfeld will leave his job for "family reasons" and then receive from President Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom?Just like Bush awarded Gen. Tommy "Don't Bother Me About Post-War Iraq" Franks who received the PMF in 2004........along with Paul "Boots" Bremer who failed as Iraq administrator.......along with CIA Director George "WMD a Slam Dunk" Tenet.Speaking of Tenent and the CIA, there was another story in the Washington Post about a secret Pentagon fact-finding mission to Iraq in 2003, just now made public, that concluded the infamous "biological laboratories" trailers actually had nothing to do with Iraq bioweapons.They became known among experts as "the biggest sand toilets in the world."Remember how Bush proclaimed that the two captured small trailers were "biological laboratories" declaring: "We have found the weapons of mass destruction!" The debunking report had reached Washington two days before the president's statement.Administration and intelligence officials continued to assert the trailers were weapons factories for nearly a year.